[Pollinator] Threatened Butterfly, Plant May Mean Trouble For Yamhill County

[Scott Black]

Threatened Butterfly, Plant May Mean Trouble For Yamhill County

Rob Manning | November 8, 2010 | Portland, OR

http://news.opb.org/article/17837-threatened-butterfly-plant-may-mean-troubl
e-yamhill-county/

A rare butterfly and the threatened plant it lives on, may land Yamhill
County in court. Rob Manning reports on a lawsuit threat, filed  Monday.

http://news.opb.org/media/uploads/images/articles/110810_fendersblue_ofg_sma
ll.jpg

Fender's blue butterfly - Oregon Field Guide

The Fender's blue butterfly tends to live in western Oregon where Kincaid's
lupine grows. But road grading and landscaping activities that Yamhill
County has done appear to be killing both the butterfly and the lupine.

Both are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Scott Black with the Portland-based Xerces Society says the county has had
plenty of chances to change its practices.

Scott Black: "U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has met with them on five
different occasions to express concerns. And, has actually offered them
funding to develop a habitat conservation plan for the butterfly."

Black says Benton County accepted a grant to craft such a plan.

In a discussion of the butterfly and lupine last May, Yamhill County
commissioners doubted that roadside activities were actually harming the
listed species.

Commissioners also worried that potential future costs could land on the
county and private 

Several endangered Oregon species, including the Kincaid's lupine and the
Fender's blue butterfly rely on oak savannah, a type of habitat that once
covered a million acres in the Willamette Valley. Now only pockets of the
distinctive landscape of huge oaks and open grassland remains.

C 2010 OPB

 

 

*************************

Scott Hoffman Black

Executive Director

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Chair

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Butterfly 

Specialist Group

4828 SE Hawthorne

Portland, OR 97215

Direct line (503) 449-3792

 <https://webmail.integra.net/src/compose.php?send_to=sblack%40xerces.org>
sblack at xerces.org

 

The Xerces Society is an international, nonprofit organization that 

protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their
habitat.

 

To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work,

please visit < <http://www.xerces.org/>
http://www.xerces.org/>www.xerces.org.

 

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